As the year inches closer to ending, Russia continues to dominate tourist markets

As the year inches closer to it's end, Russia continues to dominate the top tourist arrival markets of the island nation.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism, in its latest daily tourist arrival statistics publicized on Wednesday.

As such, daily figures reveal that Russia continues to top the tourist arrival markets contributing 11.2 percent of the market share with 200,508 arrivals by December 19.

Although India topped the tourist markets for Maldives halfway through the year, it was replaced by Russia recently. 2022 ended with the neighboring country as the top source market for Maldives tourism.

The neighboring country overtook Russia throughout June, which was the frontrunner among the tourism markets with the highest number of tourist arrivals into the first few months of the year.

India has climbed to the second spot once again, replacing China with 199,909 arrivals which makes up 11.1 percent of the arrivals.

China comes third contributing 10.2 percent with 183,857 arrivals.

In his last presidential address this year, former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih stated that the Maldives will be welcoming 3.5 million tourists annually, by 2028.

Tourism was introduced in the Maldives in 1972. It has been 50 years since zealous travelers have been visiting the Maldives which has been drawing in visitors with its picturesque beauty for years.